Videoconferencing Tips

1. Videoconferencing Tips • Vocational Rehabilitation Services local site Hosts please identify yourself to the participants. • Please keep your mute button on at all times until we call on your site. • If you lose your connection during this meeting call 651-431-2070 • If you have a question, write it down for the Q and A period.

2. Performance Based Agreements (PBA) Provider and Vocational Rehabilitation Services Staff Training June 23 and July 7, 2009

3. Partnership: Vocational Rehabilitation Services & Providers • PBA a partnership between providers and Vocational Rehabilitation Services with the consumer at the center • Through this partnership 1,374 people have been successfully placed and retained in employment since PBA started ( Jan 1, 2006) • Today’s objective is to share the latest improvements and Frequently Asked Questions

4. Placement Services Identify and develop job opportunities Assist consumers with updating resumes, completing job applications, preparing for job interviews, completing cover and thank you letters Provide on-site job analysis Assist employers to identify and eliminate barriers to the employment and advancement of consumers Retention Services Contact with consumer to promote job adjustment Contact with employer to ensure satisfaction with consumer’s job performance Job Site Skills Training Job Coaching regarding work behaviors Development of Natural Supports Scope of Performance Based Agreements

5. Job Search Preparedness • Vocational Rehabilitation Services’ Responsibility • Consumer is willing and available to work and has job seeking and retention skills sufficient to be engaged in placement services • Fluid process • If provider believes consumer is not able to seek work, a placement plan should not be written, or an existing PBA should be ended.

6. Communication Expectations • Consumer, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, and provider must meet to complete the placement plan together to clarify roles, responsibilities, and job goals • Consumer, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, and provider must meet together for 90 Day Reviews to evaluate the consumer’s progress in obtaining and maintaining employment until the PBA is completed • Frequent communication for problem solving, idea formation, and celebration is expected

7. Success Milestones Placement and Retention Plan Completion Job Hire Stabilization in Supported Employment Cases Employment Retention

8. Success Milestones Placement and Retention Plan Completion Copy of signed plan and Invoice from provider submitted to Vocational Rehabilitation Services • $1,000 payment issued

9. Success Milestones Job Hire First completed, paid shift worked by consumer in integrated labor market Written Report from provider to Vocational Rehabilitation Services with required details and Invoice $1,300 payment issued

10. Success Milestones Stabilization in Supported Employment Cases Notification from provider to Vocational Rehabilitation Services with details Case moved into employment status by Vocational Rehabilitation Services

11. Success Milestones Job Retention Consumer and Vocational Rehabilitation Services agree job is satisfactory and consumer is performing well on integrated job and is being compensated at wage customarily paid by employer Follow up has been provided a minimum of 90 days On-going supports are adequate & number of hours goal is met Written report with details from provider submitted to Vocational Rehabilitation Services $1,500 payment is issued

12. Frequently Asked Questions

13. Q: What happens if the consumer loses their job before 90 days? A: The consumer is re-placed by the provider with no additional payment. Unless the provider decides to end their PBA commitment.

14. Q: Does the Vocational Rehabilitation case record actually have to be closed before the provider can receive the retention milestone payment? A: If all of the conditions for successful closure are met, the provider can receive the payment. Vocational Rehabilitation Services may be still providing other services for the consumer.

15. Q: Can community rehabilitation providers be paid for interviewing potential consumers? A: Providers and consumers must agree that there is a “good fit” between them. Therefore, providers may wish to review referral information or interview a potential consumer. These activities are considered a cost of doing business under PBA and are included in the PBA fee. However, a provider is not committed to working with a consumer until the provider signs the job placement and job retention plan.

16. Q: When can an existing PBA be ended and a new PBA started so the community rehabilitation provider can receive initial milestone payments again? A: If the placement and job retention plan is amended significantly (e.g., the employment goal or services change substantially, or there is a significant time when the consumer is unavailable for services) a new PBA may be started.

17. Q: Can a community rehabilitation provider receive a PBA if the consumer gets hired through a different service, such as work evaluation or work adjustment training? A: PBA rates are intended to reimburse providers for the costs associated with developing a job for an individual. If a job offer results from another service, no placement plan should be signed and no job hire milestone should be paid. Job retention services can be paid on a fee-for-service basis through the provider’s operating agreement.

18. Who pays for necessary interpreter services? • Interpreter services are a reasonable accommodation that providers must make available to program participants. The community rehabilitation provider should pay for the interpreting costs.

19. Q: Can community rehabilitation providers be paid a fee for job seeking skills training? A: Community rehabilitation providers may offer a specific curriculum to assist consumers with job seeking skills training. Vocational Rehabilitation Services can purchase this training before a PBA is initiated. These services should be described on the provider’s operating agreement.

20. Q: What happens if the Vocational Rehabilitation Services case is closed and an event occurs that places the consumer’s job in jeopardy? A: The VRS counselor may authorize a limited amount of job coaching on a fee-for-service basis to resolve the issue. Counselors are expected to use their professional judgment to determine whether the use of limited post-employment services will resolve the issue, or if the Vocational Rehabilitation Services case needs to be re-opened and more comprehensive services provided.

21. Q: Is there a limit to the number of hours of job coaching that are considered to be included in the PBA? A: No. Providers must ensure the adequacy of job retention services, including job coaching, so the consumer is able to achieve a successful employment outcome.

22. Q: Can Vocational Rehabilitation Services pay for additional services such as job try-outs or on-the-job training to assist the consumer with obtaining employment? A: Yes. Vocational Rehabilitation Services can provide financial assistance to employers for: Additional training consumer may require, beyond what other new employees typically receive. The opportunity for a consumer to try a job to see if it is a good match. Prior authorization and an agreement form with the employer must be completed before the training or try-out can start. When on-the-job training or job try-out results in consumer’s employment, the provider can be paid the milestones for job placement and job retention.

23. Q: Can enclave, clustered, or scattered placements meet job hire requirements for a PBA? A: No. PBA is to be used for single site jobs. Vocational Rehabilitation Services could authorize job retention services through fee-for-service under an operating agreement if the Vocational Rehabilitation Services counselor agrees that the group placement is appropriate for the consumer and meets the federal definition of supported employment.

24. Q: Can a Vocational Rehabilitation Services file be closed and a job retention milestone be paid if the consumer is working in a temporary job? A: If the temporary job is expected to last for an extended period of time, or is likely to turn into a permanent job, a successful closure can be taken. All of the other factors for successful closure must be met.

25. Q: When can a Vocational Rehabilitation Services file be closed if more than one job has been involved? A:If there has been no significant break in the time that the consumer has been employed, and if the jobs are similar in nature, Vocational Rehabilitation Services can consider the time of employment to have been continuous. Careful consideration must be given to ensure that the final job is stable if it has been held less than 90 days.

26. Q: Can a provider hire the consumer as their own employee and receive the PBA milestone payments? A: No. When a provider is the employer there is an implicit and explicit conflict of interest between the “service provider” role and the role as an “employer.” PBA service are intended to pay for the provider’s efforts in seeking and securing employment with another employer. If a provider wishes to hire a consumer receiving a PBA service, they should relinquish the PBA role and not expect to be paid for the PBA milestones.

27. Q: What is stabilization? A: When a consumer’s work performance plateaus and job supports have faded to the lowest level necessary to maintain the individual in employment. Stabilization considerations: • Level of work performance. • Consumer works the number of hours per week specified in the IPE. • Job supports shift from learning the job tasks to maintaining the job. After stabilization, consumer moves into the final phase of supported employment known as long-term supports.

28. Q: What are long-term supports aka: ongoing supports, extended services or long-term supports ? A: Services needed to promote job adjustment and retention. May address: work productivity, assistance in training or retraining job tasks, dealing with schedule changes, adjusting to new supervisors, benefits monitoring and reporting, employee satisfaction, advancement to other job tasks or positions, and managing changes in non-work environments or life activities that affect work performance. Provided at times and locations that meet the needs and desires of the consumer and the employer, if applicable A documented system should be in place to provide organized support contacts at regular intervals (at least two face-to-face contacts per month) With disclosure, contact may be made at regular intervals with the employer.

29. Q: Can a provider get paid the job hire milestone for a temporary job or when a consumer gets his/her own job that doesn’t match the placement and retention plan job goal? A: Yes. However, retention services should not be provided until the consumer and Vocational Rehabilitation Services agree to amend the consumer’s Employment Plan. The PBA may be ended, or placement services may continue until a permanent or more suitable job is found. If the job is determined to be suitable, the placement and retention plan may be amended and retention services under the PBA could be initiated and the retention milestone paid.

30. Q: What if multiple community rehabilitation providers are involved in providing job placement and job retention services to a consumer? • A: Vocational Rehabilitation Services pays the milestone amounts to one primary provider. The primary provider can sub-contract with another qualified provider for service provision and payment.

31. Q: Can providers invoice Vocational Rehabilitation Services for a PBA milestone for a person on Medicaid Home and Community Based Waivers? A: No. Vocational Rehabilitation Services cannot make this payment to the provider when the provider is also billing Medical Assistance Home and Community Based Waivers (TBI, CADI, DD) for supported employment.

32. Q: Can additional fees for the transportation of consumers during job placement and job retention services be paid through an Operating Agreement? • A: Yes.

33. Q: Who can I call for help? A: Anne Paulson, Rehabilitation Specialist Community Partnerships VocationalRehabilitation Services (651) 259-7135 anne.paulson@state.mn.us

34. Your Questions?